PEORIA — In the overall pantheon of state championship basketball matchups, Saturday night’s Class 2A final between Bloomington Central Catholic and Nashville doesn’t necessarily stand out among the all-time best.

But for a state final that nobody saw coming, the battle between the Saints and Hornets won’t soon be forgotten.

Displaying all the trademarks of an instant classic, the triple-overtime thriller between the Saints and Hornets left fans on the edges of their seats and the Saints with their first state title, courtesy of a 76-62 victory.

“That had to be fun to watch,” BCC coach Jason Welch said. “We never quit, never quit, never quit. What a game.”

Unranked and perhaps overlooked when the postseason began three weeks ago, BCC and Nashville conspired to produce the state’s second triple-overtime championship, the first since 1989, when East St. Louis Lincoln outlasted Peoria High for the Class AA title in Urbana.

But with four minutes to play and Nashville up by 11, the game, and championship trophy, seemed to be heading in a different direction.

That is, until Nick Norton willed the Saints (27-6) back into the game with a pair of 3-pointers to ignite a game-saving 13-2 rally for BCC. Several critical turnovers by the Hornets (27-8) helped bring the Saints back to life and even gave BCC a shot to win in regulation.

“The game got awfully physical there for a while and we lost some opportunities down low and couldn’t quite finish,” Nashville coach Brad Weathers said. “Give them credit. They converted plays at the end.”

The game had a rather inauspicious start, as dismal shooting kept both offenses from getting off the ground. A heavy reliance on 3-point shooting didn’t help matters, either, though more than a third of the points in the first half came from beyond the arc.

In fact, had it not been for the marksmanship of Parker Goodlick, the Saints might have entered the halftime break in hotter water than they would have liked.

Trailing 7-6 after a quarter, BCC grabbed its first lead of the game when Goodlick drained a 3 from the right corner on the first play of the second quarter. But a quick response by Dylan Mueller, who knocked down a 3 on the next possession, ignited a 13-3 push by the Hornets, with Keegan Anderson’s three-point play giving Nashville a 20-12 lead with 2:59 to play in the half.

With the Hornets threatening to stretch their lead to double digits, Goodlick helped the Saints get the deficit down to a more manageable size by burying a pair of 3s to trim the Nashville lead to 24-20 by the break.

The play of Royce Newman (21 points, 11 rebounds) and Clint Johannes (13 points, 10 rebounds) in the paint helped the Hornets gain some separation in the second half. But things began to turn late in the period, when Norton and Jake Reinhart connected on back-to-back 3’s to end lengthy personal scoring droughts.

That turnaround led to the first overtime, which ended in a flurry as both teams missed late opportunities to win.

The second OT was played in similar fashion, though Nashville began what became a string of 17 possessions without a point that would eventually doom its shot at the title.

A 3-pointer by Reinhart to start the third OT gave BCC all it would need, and the final 11 points of the game were scored at the free-throw line.

“It’s been a whirlwind the last three weeks,” Welch said. “I’m so proud of the kids. Resilient. Never quit.”

Josh Wessler can be reached at 686-3214 or jwessler@pjstar.com.

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